Shop Girl
Clio, Soho
Walking through Soho is a perpetual blur of upscale shops featuring the most prominent designers opening up their expansive showrooms to the public. From Jonathan Adler to Rachel Ashwell, from sparse modernism to Shabby Chic, from antiques to Eames, you’ll find a little something for your home palate. Yet, meticulously decorated showrooms exuding too many options with tastes too defined, often gives me vertigo for I’ve never quite ascribed to one particular aesthetic for my home. I have some Shabby Chic, some splashes of vibrant color, some mahogany, a little sprinkling around the living space. So it was serendipitous to find Clio, a tucked away jewel of a shop on quiet Thompson Street, which offers up a stylish and eclectic mix of tabletop items and home furnishings from Brooklyn to Tokyo. Inside, it’s obvious that owners, (and former marketing and PR execs) Michelle and Daniel Lehman, have my artistic eye in mind. Farmhouse tables display colorful soup bowls with Asian design, French country style cheese sets, glass vases that could have been smuggled out of 19th Century barnhouses - all products marked by impeccable taste, panache, and enduring quality. A home decor of sampling and dipping - I couldn’t help myself around the Marseilles cheese plates and dinner napkins with a hint of Kyoto flavor.
And with a small, inviting space, you don’t get the factory feel, rather you feel as if you’ve stumbled into someone’s warm home (complete with exposed brick walls and wood floors) filled to the brim with exquisite treasures. And did I neglect to mention that Clio offers a bridal and gift registry — think birthday, anniversary, new home or any other special occasion. And with easy, convenient online shopping, how could you resist the coolest store on the block?
Clio
92 Thompson Street
New York, NY 10012
212-966-8991
Subway: A/C/E to Spring, N/R to Prince
